02 February 2018

Connecting Candlemas to Groundhog Day

February 2nd marks 40 days after Christmas. On the liturgical calendar we celebrate the Presentation of Our Lord at the Temple, the traditional close of the Christmas season. It is also known as Candlemas, as the faithful traditionally processed into the church sanctuary with Candles. This ceremony re-presenting how the Mary and Joseph brought Jesus, the Light of the World, into the Temple.On the secular calendar, we celebrate Groundhog Day, awaiting the predictions of Punxsutawney Phil from western Pennsylvania on whether there will be six more weeks of winter (not Black History Month as some wags have wondered). This makes sense as it roughly is midwinter (especially prior to the Gregorian calendar adjustment of 1752). Unbeknowst to most, Groudhog Day has a direct connection to Candlemas.In eastern Europe, which focused on light and candles, there was a folk association between how much light was in the sky on Candlemas and God's providence in the months to come. Thus they believed that if there was a lot of light in the sky on February 2nd, there would be 40 more days of winter. Germanic peoples used an animal as their light detector, typically a hedgehog or a badger. When they immigrated to America, they adapted their instrument and used the plentiful groundhog.